Motor-driven traverse rods have been on the market for many years. In one form, a pair of master carriers is driven between the opened and closed positions by means of a double acting worm gear which is turned by a motor mounted at the end of the rod. Limit switches serve to interrupt the action of the motor when the master carriers reach the designed extremity of their travel. In another form, a small motor is carried by each of the master carriers. In still another form the master carriers are driven along the rod by eddycurrent forces. Each of these prior art devices has serious drawbacks. They are all expensive and none is adapted for convenient use with adjustable telescoping rods of the type which can be installed by the usual retail customer. As a result, motor-driven traverse rods have not gone into extended commercial use, and have been used only in custom made and expensive installations.
A basic objective of this invention is, therefore, to provide a convenient, and inexpensive, drive for the master carriers of a conventional telescoping traverse rod, so as to make such rods suitable for being motor driven, and thereby to make motor driven rods inexpensive enough and convenient enough to be used by the average retail customer. A more specific objective is to provide such a traverse rod drive mechanism which will, at one and the same time, positively drive the master carriers (as is required), and be adjustable by simple means from the exterior of the rod, so that an average retail customer can adjust the length of a motor-driven traverse rod.